Trial and error-the best way to learn

WIP Wednesday-10th January

The first week of the year has been so grey and dull, the right kind of weather for stopping indoors and crafting.

Last week I showed you the block stitch hot water bottle cover I was making for Mr C, and mentioned my strong dislike of sewing in ends. I calculated that by the end of the project I would have over 200 ends to sew in. That thought was really taking away my enjoyment of the project. I had a think and decided that the cover could be made as a tube, joining the bottom later. This would mean I could carry the darker grey up between rows and only have the ends of the other 3 colours to sew in. That would take my total number of ends to deal with down to a much more respectable 60(ish). I think it looks far neater now too!

I’ve not really worked on many other projects apart from the bookrat which featured in my post yesterday. I have made a few now, but this one came in his own cheese shaped box.

That’s all for now, I’m behind on my plans a bit because of restarting the hot water bottle cover. Hopefully a few more evenings will get it finished. What are you working on? Have you ever abandoned a project part way through when you realised it was a nightmare?

Nice post! The question at the end of the post reminded me my graduation dress made of doilies that I keep abandoning and picking up again year after year 😀 why the hell did I have to choose the white color for that? Because it kind of looks more like a wedding dress, also I have promiced myself to never do a project that includes joining doilies…

I started a mood blanket a couple of years ago (think temperature blanket, but instead you do a row based on your perceived mood for the day). I abandoned it around March or April that year. I hate sewing in ends too, and changing colours every day became too tedious for me.

Perhaps you could have finished it up to the bit where you had to then do the ends, and kind of ‘fall out’ with it, so put it in a box or bag so that it had a time on the naughty step …. then, when you felt that it had learned its lessons, (and when you were in a bored ‘I don’t know what to do with myself’ mood) you could allow it to come off the naughty step and do (say) 50 of the 200, then put it away again until next time and then ….. well, you see where this is going. And eventually you’d have it all finished and in ship shape.
But … having said that … I do rather like the look of it in the photos. It’s very smart and very much on the beautiful side of knitting. I can imagine it being sold in somewhere like Liberty of London. It has that ‘high quality, one off beautifully hand made’, look about it.
LOOooove the rat. Head over heels in love with the rat. Those will go down a storm at your next (and future – especially Christmas) craft fairs.
Sending ooodles of love ~ Cobs. xxx
P.S…. do you have an Etsy shop set up yet, or sell on Ebay? (just thinking, like y’ do) lol ~ C xxx

Lol, you are optimistic. For now the starting piece is languishing in a WIP bag, where it will stay until I need the bag for a better behaved project. Thank you for the lovely comments, I’ve not opened an Etsy shop or anything yet as I’ve not had time, the mini crafts have decided sleep is for losers and aren’t settling at bedtime. By the time they’re asleep I’m ready to give in too. Even lavender oil on the radiator hasn’t worked Lol! Once they improve I will hopefully have more energy for business. Hope you’ve had a fab weekend x

You tell them that if they don’t start going to sleep at a decent time for their age, then you’re going to send them to Aunt Cobs house for a week.
A dose of the seaside, some sea breeze and some of the yummy fish we get here (with huge bundles of chips) will soon have them in bed! They’ll be begging for bedtime by the time I’ve finished wearing them out! 😉
lol ~ C. xxx